…a very stylised, funky designer led film set in Frankfurt!
We’ve just completed shooting a funky commercial in a new, modern, fun loving hotel downtown Frankfurt. It was a major logistical challenge preparing and implementing the shoot due to the unusual and ever changing requirements.
360° filming is a complex affair and needs careful planning, camera placement, lighting and talent rehearsals. It is is typically recorded with a multiple camera rig or a dedicated camera that includes multiple lenses embedded into the camera. During post production the recorded footage is merged into one spherical video through a method called stitching. The colour and contrast of each shot has to be calibrated and synched with the others. The result is an impressive video similar to virtual reality set ups.
One of our favourite DOPs, Harald Capota, has recently completed several projects with some beautiful and astonishing imagery for Germany’s mega broadcaster ZDF. He gave us some insight into this project by answering a few questions on 360 degree filming.
After a fairly slow moving July when most people are on holiday things started hotting up mid August with a wide range of shoots throughout Europe.
We crewed and shot a wealth of corporate films and documentaries with small crews, like fixers, drivers and PAs to full blown production crews with all the bells and whistles: production managers, DOPs, additional camera operators, sound recordists, DIT experts, make up artists, gaffers, grips, set designers, translators, autocue operators, photographers and trucks full of state of the art camera kit!
We’ve just completed an exciting shoot at Germany’s famous Hockenheim race track near Frankfurt. Our UK clients came at short notice requesting crew and kit for this unusual car racing shoot.
Being as we only had a couple of days prep we were scrambling to get exactly the right crew members with the appropriate skills. We ended up providing a top crew all ex Frankfurt with the necessary experience and knowledge for specialised car shoots.
We recently got a request to provide a support crew and kit for a UK company who are producing a clip for Google which explains how YouTube can be a valuable educational tool.
We just happened across this amusing clip about Quentin Tarantino’s favourite clapper/loader, camera angel Geraldine Brezca. Enjoy! 🙂
We enjoy an ongoing relationship producing webcasts for the American communications giant AT&T. This time we were in the picturesque and historical city of Brno in the Czech Republic.
Setting up webcasts abroad is always full of surprises and challenges, particularly when you are dealing with people from a different culture speaking an unknown language. Our core technical team, consisting of cameramen, vision mixer, sound recordist, technical assistants and all the necessary kit came from Berlin, the production crew from Texas. Communicating in English and German works very well but in the Czech Republic the major foreign language is Russian.
However, with a little practice, language barriers can be overcome using hand signals and body language. We even managed to hire some additional technical equipment from a Brno based AV specialist using hands and feet to explain our needs and hard cash to clinch the deal.
As in so many areas of professional film production it’s expected we command the highest levels of technical expertise, creativity, friendliness and reliability. In order to complete the picture though the ability to think on your feet, trouble shoot and improvise are paramount.
After weeks of planning and preparations we transformed the Brno AT&T facility into an attractive „Town Hall“ venue and the live stream reached a large international audience without a glitch. Key speakers reached out to the AT&T workforce with a variety of presentations and individual awards. To round it all off a traditional Czech folk music trio performed rousing and colorful dance acts.
A few weeks ago we were approached by PBS Chicago to provide a support crew for their upcoming shoot in Europe. They we planning to shoot a story about the renowned architects Nada and Marc Breitman – living and working in Paris and Amsterdam. We were more than happy to offer our production services. We supplied PBS with a sound recordist, fixer, driver and gaffer with a ton of lights 🙂 They were happy to have local support in both locations!
Image: screenshot © PBS / Talk of the Town
Last week, Bloomberg TV requested their favourite cameraman from Frankfurt to fly to Riga for an important financial conference. It was all done last minute – but our camera operator was available and up for it! He didn’t only do a great job filming conferences and interviews but also got a day’s worth of sightseeing out of it! 🙂
On of our many US based pharma clients requested three FS7 camera crews for a drug launch event in Düsseldorf. In addition he needed an autocue with operator and a photographer to take stills.
It’s the same old story which I’m sure many of our colleagues can identify with.
Camera Crew Germany is a dedicated camera crewing and production services company and we are coordinating camera crews all over Europe on a daily basis. It’s a time intensive process and things like social media get left behind in favour of more pressing issues…
However, we all know that blogging and social media updates have to be done, unfortunately ours isn’t a daily update and becomes kind of general with many shoots covered in one article as below.
Since our last update about our snowed in crew in Switzerland and our legal videographer in Amsterdam we’ve been travelling to drier locations throughout the land and beyond.
Discovery Canada got us to interview a Munich based expert whose agenda was glowing chameleons. We knew chameleons changed colour to adapt to their surroundings, but who knew they glowed in UV light?! We then covered another shoot for them in Amsterdam, one of our Swiss clients had us filming an operation in Berlin, Bloomberg had us shooting financial news in and around Frankfurt, DHL kept us busy with corporate interviews in Bonn, one of our regular London based clients had us shooting corporate footage in Frankfurt and last but not least we had a large pharmaceutical shoot in London.
Bloomberg TV is keeping us on our toes again for a shoot in Munich last week. They requested their favourite cameraman from Frankfurt to travel to Bavaria to interview the Telekom CEO at the “Digital Live Design Conference”. We shot on the ever so popular Sony PMW200 and used the very handy Live Unit for streaming.
Before the holiday season comes to an end we would like to extend our warmest wishes and heartfelt thanks to you, our clients, our colleagues and our friends for making 2017 such a spectacular year for us at CCG.
We regularly have camera crews shooting for Bloomberg at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and LiveU makes live broadcasting so easy, versatile and cost effective.
The History Channel requested we use the amazing Lensbaby and Dji Osmo to enhance imagery on our recent shoot in the Netherlands entitled “Return to the Moon”. The programme is exploring the very real prospects of colonising the Moon. We interviewed various experts from the ESA (European Space Agency).
We’ve been pretty busy lately crewing up various shoots and providing production services up and down the country.
We’re always pleased when we receive client feedback, particularly when its good:)) Our Amsterdam Camera Crew received the following from one our USA clients:
“We have received such positive feedback and I just want to extend a special thanks to you and your crews. Four two-camera shoots in three countries, interviews ranging from 20-70 minutes individually, text graphics created, edited to under 5 min and launched today. It was a great team effort and I just wanted to recognize your energy and talents. We couldn’t have pulled it off without you.”
There were times when filming corporate interviews in front of green screen was the order of the day. It was mainly driven by the fact that we would often have to film interviews in horribly empty, soulless offices or board rooms.
We regularly shoot corporate films for DHL in Bonn. Our trusted crews always come from nearby Cologne shooting on the ever so popular Sony FS7.
We often get requests to shoot b-roll in all major cities of Germany, such as Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt or Hamburg. This time a US based client requested we shoot b-roll and time lapse videos of various sights in Berlin. Our crew shot on the Sony FS7, the Sony a7s and the Panasonic GH5.
After weeks of preparation, finding locations, organising shoot permits, blocking off roads, gathering a small army of extras and providing support equipment and manpower, we finally got round to shooting part of an international thriller at some exciting locations downtown Frankfurt. We were proud to play host to our guests from Copenhagen and wish them every success with the rest of the shoot!
A US-based agency requested a DOP and soundman with Sony FS7 kit in Jülich, near Cologne, recently. They shot high end footage as well as interviews at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre including their server and research rooms.
Last week a client requested our services in Frankfurt to film timelapse footage of prominent buildings and sights around town. We shot some high-end 4K with our Sony FS7, Sony a7s various, strategically placed gopros 🙂
We recently provided multi camera, streaming and webcast facilities for a new California based client at an event in Munich. A totally different ball game from regular corporate and documentary shoots. Needless to say when you’re streaming all depends on a reliable and stable upload connection which can sometimes be tricky at remote locations. However, our end client was IBM and they made sure that the streaming connection was top notch.
We spent a busy week crewing for Discovery Channel Canada throughout the whole of Germany. We travelled North to South and Eat to West shooting a variety of topics ranging from solar energy which powers lights 10.000 times stronger than the sun, solar energy powered aeroplanes, a supersonic aeroplane and a good old gigantic trebuchet.
We regularly provide English speaking fixers/translators for the US based TV show “House Hunters International” , which airs on HGTV. This time we “fixed” for a couple of weeks for an equally international crew from the USA, England and Germany, following couples in both Heidelberg and Nuremberg searching for new homes.
Every year Frankfurt hosts IMEX, a somewhat exotic business trade fair and we’re shooting regular XDCam there for The Fred Production Company from the UK. A colourful and lively show!
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We had a couple of requests for crewing in Hamburg earlier this week. As so often, testimonials, interviews and b roll for corporate CEO awards. 2 crews shooting with Sony FS7 kits along with fixers and translators.
We have an ongoing relationship with Discovery Channel Canada supplying crews for their daily technology show The Daily Planet. We’re always covering whacky, unusual topics and inventions and this time we shot Mr. Un Yong Park with his underwater jet device Scubadec in Denzingen, Southern Germany.
The wonderful Jill Woo from EyeMagic recently requested we crew a shoot for her in London. We supplied two FS7 crews travelling around London for 5 days filming patient testimonials and b roll for the US based mega online publisher for healthcare, WebMD.
Its frightening how good the quality is on the Sony Alpha 7s, making run and gun stuff much easier. This time our DOP preferred the handling and imagery of the C300 mkII for the main camera and matching the Sony footage is no big deal.
